Test servers: Perfect for the developer who wants to publicly test things. Throughout history, or at least the past decade, test servers have been used for everything from stress testing to gauging player interest, to using player feedback to balance updates. In more recent years, a majority of developers have discovered the uses of a test server, and the number of MMOs that do not use these servers have dwindled substantially.
Surprisingly, however, players will not be given pre-made characters, and it appears that they also will not be able to copy existing characters over to the test server (a common practice in MMOs), but instead the characters that they do create will be placed in super-xp-mode, where leveling is quick and drops are jacked up for maximum efficiency. Whether or not this will slant feedback is up for grabs, but we will know that when the test servers launch next week.
More on Aion as it appears.
MMO Fallout 